One Twins Starting Pitching Prospect Deserves to Start Rising on Top Prospect Lists

[Cody Christie]

The Twins’ current front office regime is starting to see the results of their drafting and development process. One prospect outside the team’s top-20 rankings deserves more attention in the season’s second half. 

Image courtesy of Ed Bailey, Wichita Wind Surge

Andrew Morris began his college career at Colorado Mesa University, a Division II school. During his freshman season, as a 17-year-old, Morris helped his team to the championship game. He put himself on the map with a solid junior season when he posted a 2.19 ERA with a 1.18 WHIP and 115-to-19 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 78 innings. Texas Tech recruited him to Lubbock for his senior season, where he tossed 88 1/3 innings with the Red Raiders with a 4.58 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. Big league teams started to notice Morris because Texas Tech had multiple draft prospects in their rotation. 

The Twins selected Morris in the fourth round of the 2022 MLB Draft and signed him for $500,000. After signing, he made one brief appearance with the FCL Twins, but his first extended professional action came during the 2023 campaign. Minnesota assigned him to Fort Myers, where he was over a year younger than the average age of the competition. In 48 2/3 innings, he posted a 2.59 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP and 9.4 K/9. He pitched into the fifth inning In seven of his 11 appearances and had two walks or fewer in each start. 

Morris had proven himself at Low-A, so the Twins promoted him to Cedar Rapids at the end of July. His first start for the Kernels went poorly, as he allowed four runs on ten hits in five innings. Over his next five starts (27 innings), he combined for a 2.00 ERA while holding opponents to a .663 OPS. The Kernels were heading to the playoffs, and Morris showed up with a strong pitching performance. He fanned seven while giving up one run on three hits without a walk in five frames. Cedar Rapids went on to win the championship, a first for the club since 1994. 

Minnesota sent Morris back to Cedar Rapids to begin the 2024 season, and he picked up right where he had left off. He allowed two runs or fewer in six of his seven starts while averaging over five innings per appearance. His last four starts proved to the Twins that he was ready to be promoted. In 24 innings, he allowed three earned runs (1.13 ERA) while holding batters to a .209/.242/.242 (.484) slash line. Morris also continued to pound the strike zone with a 71 strike % and only four walks. 

Moving up to Double-A can be one of the most challenging transitions in a farm system, but Morris has made it look easy. In seven games, he has a 1.41 ERA with a 4.0 BB% while touching 97 mph with his fastball. His fastball has good movement so that the pitch can be deceptive to batters. His slider hits in the upper 80s and can be used to miss bats from lefties and righties. He rounds out his pitch mix with a slow curveball and a changeup that both coax ground balls from the opposition.  

It’s easy to see from Morris’ delivery why he is effective on the mound. He tilts his shoulder and has an over-the-top delivery that causes some deception for batters. Morris has been known as a strike-thrower since his amateur days, and that trend has continued throughout his professional career. Some evaluators pointed to his strikeout rate as something to improve this season, and he’s met those expectations. Last season, he posted a 17.8 K% with Cedar Rapids, raising that by 10% this year. He’s continued those improvements at Double-A with a 24.0 K%. 

Morris is another developmental story to watch, especially as he gets closer to the big leagues. He’s made improvements since signing with the organization, including upticks with his velocity, an increase in his strikeout rate, and an improvement in his overall command. Other pitchers currently rank higher than him on the team’s prospect rankings, but a solid finish to the season will put him in the top 10. 

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Is Morris one of the Twins’ top-20 prospects? Is he someone the club would be willing to trade before the trade deadline? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

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[jkcarew]

And one should be disappearing from top prospect lists.

[Mike Sixel]

I mean, fangraphs had him tied for 11th on the Twins list. Who should he be higher than?

[Otaknam]

Hopefully Morris continues his march to the big leagues. On an unrelated note a pet peeve of mine on announcers.  I wish the AA play by play guy would stop using future tense when he describes action that has already happened. For example “3/2 delivery gonna be strike three”. No, strike three has already happened, it’s not going to happen in the near future. It just seems that if you make your living doing play be play, it’s more professional to use the proper tense in describing the action. Sorry for “gonna be” venting on this minor issue.

[Aggies7]

Pitching in d2 at 17 years old is wild

[Fatbat]

Well Festa and SWR will not be on next years prospects list. Plenty of room for Morris to get his acclaim. Its awesome to see these kids pound the strike zone! 

[DocBauer]

I think the only reason Morris has been overlooked is due to Festa, the great season Lewis had last season, and Matthews tremendous start to this season. Culpepper also had a very good 2023 as well. To his credit, Morris is performing even better this season than 2023, which was basically his first real year after being drafted.

We can debate who to rank where, but right now, I'd have to go Festa, Matthews, and then Morris. One has made his ML debut, and the other two might still hit AAA before the year is done. 

Lewis and Culpepper got a bit of a late start, and maybe only because of that I might place them next, but it's pretty close. Lewis is now back at AA...where he was scheduled to begin the season...and Culpepper a step down for the moment. And right there with them would be LH Nowlin at AA. If Lewis and Nowlin don't reach AAA later this season, they'll be there in 2025. Culpepper should finish the season at AA.

Two to watch: Pierson Ohl and Ty Langenberg. Ohl was so good in a half season in 2023 I thought he might be at AAA this year. He's a control pitcher with reportedly nice secondary stuff who saw a big rise in velocity in 2023. Unfortunately, he's been off to an inconsistent start this year. But if he settles down, don't sleep on him. Meanwhile, Langenberg is being almost ignored at Cedar Rapids. He was drafted last season in the 11th round. Other than a cursory 7 IP last year, 2024 is really his debut. And after a solid start at Ft Myers, he's already at Cedar Rapids. Keep your eye out for him the rest of the season.

NOTE: I deliberately left out Soto due to youth, as well as Raya, not because of stuff or potential, but due to the unusual nature of his usage/development. 

[mark sills]

The only prospect pitcher that should be ranked above Andrew Morris is Zebby Mathews.. 

[Linus]

I’m happy to see his progress particularly the walk rate. I couldn’t care less what his prospect rank is - it means nothing. Prospect ranking is such an overrated waste of time. The only thing that matters is if he helps the Twins some day. 

[Fatbat]

1 hour ago, mark sills said:

The only prospect pitcher that should be ranked above Andrew Morris is Zebby Mathews.. 

it will be awesome to see both of them with the Saints next season. Hopefully for a few starts in September ‘24.  

[LambchoP]

Between Mathews and Morris we have some good looking pitchers in our system. I'd rank both these guys higher than Raya and Soto. Hopefully we pick up a major league starter at the trade deadline because I'd bet both these guys won't make their debut next year. Hopefully 2026. SWR, Festa, Mathews and Morris. Lots of cheap controllable pitchers if we can keep them healthy.

[jimbo92107]

I like the way the ball explodes from his hand. Mechanical efficiency.

[Doctor Wu]

19 hours ago, LambchoP said:

Between Mathews and Morris we have some good looking pitchers in our system. I'd rank both these guys higher than Raya and Soto. Hopefully we pick up a major league starter at the trade deadline because I'd bet both these guys won't make their debut next year. Hopefully 2026. SWR, Festa, Mathews and Morris. Lots of cheap controllable pitchers if we can keep them healthy.

The progress of ALL of these young pitchers is very encouraging. Maybe this much-hyped "Pitching Pipeline" has indeed arrived. 

[Fatbat]

On 6/29/2024 at 10:42 AM, LambchoP said:

Between Mathews and Morris we have some good looking pitchers in our system. I'd rank both these guys higher than Raya and Soto. Hopefully we pick up a major league starter at the trade deadline because I'd bet both these guys won't make their debut next year. Hopefully 2026. SWR, Festa, Mathews and Morris. Lots of cheap controllable pitchers if we can keep them healthy.

We also have Canterino, Corey Lewis an CJ Culpepper coming in ‘25/26

[gman]

I like what I see in the pitching pipeline. I don't see any reason in the off season to sign free agent starting pitching. The team hasn't reached the point where it has too much pitching, if that is even possible. It's definitely worth watching these guys develop.